The president believes that a sustainable recovery in the coming year requires several things, from practical measures that would sustain economic growth, reduce unemployment and increase demand, to structural changes that demand bold and far-reaching decisions.

These decisions need to be made on the basis of expert evaluations and mutual cooperation, Pahor told Radio Slovenija on Friday, pointing to A health care reform, labour market reform and simplification and streamlining of the public administration.

He assessed that the new government had been burdened with great expectations, as it had been expected that a new political party without baggage from the past would be able to handle certain problems more successfully.

The government is solving problems at a slower pace and less successfully than people would like to see them be solved, Pahor said, while refraining from answering the question whether the government could do a better job.

The president of the republic should avoid such assessments as his role is to cooperate well with the government for the good of the people and the country, he added.

What the government needs to do in the coming year can be done only in cooperation with the opposition and if the atmosphere of peace and reconciliation is created in the political arena.

"Should those forces that do not want reconciliation and see only short-term interest in the divide, also at the national level, gain momentum, then not even the economic and social policy of the government will bring an end to the crisis," the president concluded.